Crying Out
by GoddessGirl1372
Summary: Lily Evans is a beautiful girl who has many friends. And one enemy in particular. James Potter thinks she spoiled, Lily thinks he’s arrogant.Will love blossom? Full Summary inside. Rated for language and later chapters. NO FLAMERS! CHAPTER 12 UP!
1. Introduction

Crying Out

By Goddessgirl16328

Summary: Lily Evans is a beautiful girl who has many friends. And one enemy in particular. James Potter thinks she spoiled, Lily thinks he's arrogant. What happens when he discovers something know one else knows about when he moves into the house next door over the summer….

Little Lily is now 16 years old  
She's steady tryna figure why the world is so cold  
Why she's not pretty and nobody seems to like her   
Alcoholic step-dad always wanna strike her  
Yells and abuses leaves her with some bruises 

The summer air blew back Lily's flowing red hair as she listened to the crickets chirp. She had been standing there long since sun down and knew that she would have to go in soon. She leaned against the wood porch railing and looked down at the small pond, at her reflection. Green eyes glistened back at her, causing her to look up. She hated her eyes, they were abnormally green and bright, she wished she had normal eyes, like nice brown soft eyes. She sighed loudly and slowly walked up to the back door and opened it with a soft creak. She looked back outside before stepping into her home; _'Only 2 more months then back to school…away from this house…'_

A strong smell of alcohol met Lily as soon as she stepped in causing her to turn around and face the living room. The telly was on, it looked like the end of some late night show and her step-dad was lying on the couch, snoring loudly. The back of the couch faced Lily, so she quickly crept behind him and up the stairs to her room.

It was small room, and there really wasn't much room to move about with a queen sized bed in the center of the room with a simple quilt on it with two pillows. There was a cleared desk in one corner and a closest on the opposite wall. A huge window was on the far side, and was the only part of her room the Lily really liked. It had a beautiful view of the woods and mountains in the back. Lily quickly collapsed on her bed and looked over on the wall were a large clock hung. _Midnight_. Lily curled on top of her pillow and looked over out her window. _Only two more months. Two more months…_


	2. Meeting the Enemy

Crying Out

By Goddessgirl16328

A/N Chapter one was short, but this one will be much longer ;) please review!

xXx

Lily woke up early as she normally did and went downstairs wearing jeans and a plain white shirt. Her sister Petunia was already downstairs reading the morning post. Petunia was a bony girl with blonde-dyed straight hair that was curled up at the ends. Lily hated her sister as much as her sister hated her; this hate was probably because Petunia blamed Lily for their father's death. Her mother had remarried a few years later to a brutish man who neither Lily nor Petunia took much of a fancy to, but their mother had.

Jessica Evans was never home though; she was always out traveling for her work while she left John Stevens, their step-dad, at home with them. John was quite nice to both of them while their mother was around, but as soon as she left on a business trip, he would buy tons of beer and laze about, ordering about Petunia and Lily, but mostly Lily. Lily didn't know why, but he seemed to favor Petunia over her so she didn't ever have to work as much as Lily did.

Lily walked into the kitchen and up to the cabinets, opening all of them up and only finds pots and pans. There wasn't a single morsel of food about, and Lily knew she would be in trouble now. She had finished her work earlier then normal yesterday and had thought it was just luck, but now she knew she was supposed to have gone shopping for food down in a nearby village. Lily groaned as she quickly closed the cabinets and opened up the back door.

"Where you goin?" Petunia asked rudely as she looked up at her from her seat at the kitchen table.

"Off to the market, I, er, forgot some things…"

"I know as best as you that you didn't go shopping yesterday and that's why we haven't got any food…" Petunia glared at her sister as Lily glared back and slammed the door behind her. Lily quickly ran around to the side of her house and grabbed her bike which she carefully climbed on and began to quickly peddle onto the dirt road. After about five minutes, Lily biked out of the wooded area and the round went from dirt to paved as she continued to bike as fast as she could. The village was very small and normally only attracted tourists that wanted a quiet vacation in the woods or mountains. There were only a few stores including a sweet shop, a small coffee shop, a few tourist shops to buy souvenirs, a book shop, and of course a small grocery store. Lily quickly dropped her bike on the ground and ran into the store.

It was a cramped small area with five rows of shelving through the center of the room and a line of refrigerators in the back far side. A cashier sat lazily flipping through her magasien on the right hand side of the store, but looked up when she heard the tinkling bell that rang when ever some one opened the door.

"Lily!" the girl said happily smiling, standing up and walking across the creaking wooden floor to give her a hug. "It's nice to see you! You normally come on Mondays, but you didn't! What happened?"

"Slipped my mind, sorry Nicole." Lily said smiling nicely at her friend. Her and Nicole had been friends since they were ten, when Lily's mom had remarried and her step dad had begun sending her to the store. Nicole's parents owned the store, so naturally Nicole was there every day.

"So, the usual Lils?" Nicole asked as she pulled out a paper bag and began putting bags of chips in it.

"Course. You know what John wants…" Lily mumbled as she began placing a few cans of coke in the bag as well.

"Ugh, this man needs to go on a diet…" Nicole looked at the candy bars Lily was putting in the bag now. "I know what this guy has been eating for seven years and I haven't seen a single real healthy piece of food go in that bag for him." Lily smiled as she went to the back and took out a few bottles of beer and put them in the bag.

"Trust me, I'm the only one who really eats healthy at our house. John eats nonstop but refuses to eat anything good for him, and Petunia barely eats at all and when she does, I'll admit, it's normally an apple or something, but one apple every few days isn't good for you either…" Lily said as she began filling a new bag with cans of soup and bread. She brought the bags up front to Nicole who quickly rang up the price. Lily pulled out a fifty pound note and gave it to Nicole, who placed the change back into her hand.

"You promise to come down later right?" Nicole asked.

"Like when?" Lily asked as she gathered up the bags.

"Like tomorrow afternoon? I'm gonna be bored out of my mind again, and seeing you every Thursday is the only thing that keeps me going." Nicole said with a quick wink.

"I'll try." Lily smiled and began walking backwards towards the door. "But you better have two cups of coffee when I get here." Nicole smiled and waved goodbye as Lily turned around to open the door. Instead of doing so, she walked into a person and quickly fell over. The bags fell on the floor, bottles crashing and shattering, the soups rolling off in different directions, and the rest falling on Lily, who laid sprawled on her back on the floor.

"Oh my god, I'm so sor – Evans?"


	3. Pointedly Ignoring the Enemy

Crying Out

By GoddessGirl16328

xXx

"Potter…" Lily growled as Nicole came rushing over and pulled her up.

"You know 'em?" Nicole asked as she looked up at the handsome face of James Potter.

"You mean the arrogant prick that has been asking me out for seven years straight and seem to understand that 'bugger off you git' means stop asking me out and get a life? Yep. I know him." Lily muttered angrily as she began gathering the things up. James bent down to help her, but she simply pulled the can of soup he had picked up out of his hand and placed it back into the bag.

"What the hell are you doing here any way Potter?"

"My parents just got a summer home up in the mountains. Me and the guys decided to come down here and look around." Lily frowned at his poor grammar but frowned even more when she realized what he had said.

"You mean there are more of you?"

"Yah, Remus and Sirius are here too." James flicked his black hair out of his hazel eyes as he spoke. "Come to stay the rest of the summer. Peter's off with his mum in London and –"

"Remus is here?" Lily asked excitedly, interrupting him rudely. Lily had no manners for a marauder like him. But Remus, though a marauder, was very nice quiet guy who loved to read like her. They were quite good friends actually, and seeing as she hadn't been able to write to him, she was glad to hear that he was here.

"Yah he's here…" James mumbled, slightly annoyed that she was more happy to see Remus then him. "He's at the book store actually, here he comes now." Lily quickly set down her bags, opened the door, and ran up to a sandy haired tall boy who was carrying a purple tattered book. Lily quickly jumped up into his arms and gave him a friendly hug, then put her down.

"Nice to see you Lily!" Remus chuckled as Lily continued to smile up at him.

"You don't know how pleased I am to see you! My summer has been just horrid so far, it's nice to see a familiar face that isn't Mr. Huge-Ego over there." Nicole and James both frowned at this.

"And what, I count as nothing?" Nicole asked jokingly.

"Course not; Nick, but I see you every summer!"

"You see 'em every single day during the school year."

"So?" Nicole laughed at Lily's lack of defense against herself.

"So, Remus, how long are you staying up here?" Lily asked, turning her attention back to him.

"Two weeks. Then I'm heading for Paris for a couple of weeks." Remus said as James continued to frown.

"C'mon Remus, Sirius wanted us to get that food –"

"SHIT!" Lily yelled suddenly and ran back into the store. Remus and James both looked at each other before Lily came bursting out with the bags of food.

"Did Miss Perfect just swear?" James asked as Lily quickly stuffed the bags into a small basket on the back of the bike.

"I was supposed to make breakfast for John and Petunia; he's going to be absolutely furious with me! I left at least an hour ago!" Lily yelled frantically as she got back on her bike and began peddling away at top speed, back into the woods and away from the village.

"Who's John?" James asked looking at Nicole.

"Uh…So gents, you say you needed to get some food? Well, the stores right here c'mon in!" Nicole quickly ran back into the store, her long brown hair swaying as she raced back through the door. James and Remus shared another look before following her inside.

"So, watchu say your names were?" Nicole asked, leaning on the counter and watching them carefully as they grabbed a few things.

"Remus Lupin, pleasure to meet you."

"James Potter." Came the two simple replies as Nicole sat down on the tall stool behind the counter.

"Nicolletta Guara. People call me Nicole though." James smiled politely as he placed the food on the counter.

"That'll be £18.78." Nicole said holding her hand out expectantly. James looked at her hand then back at her.

"Eighteen pounds of what?"

"Har har, very funny." Nicole said as she looked up from her notebook where she had been recording the items bought. "Just pay up James."

"No seriously, 18 pounds of what? Oof." James grunted as Remus pushed him aside and handed her a crisp 20 pound note.

"_It's muggle money you idiot…_' Remus whispered to James as Nicole took the money and handed back the change. _'What's muggle?' _Nicole thought as she waved after Remus and James.

"Hope you come again soon!" Nicole said as they closed the door behind them and began to walk back down the street. "So I can ask you what the hell a muggle is…"

xXx

Lily quickly dropped the bike down on the ground but only after she had gathered up all of the bags of shopping. She jogged around to the back of her small home and ran up the steps of the porch, and carefully unlatching the back door. She quietly pulled open the door, sticking her head through the door and looked around. Quickly, Lily crept into the kitchen and put the bags on the table. Lily looked around the room before opening the bags and putting the food away. Just when Lily had finished putting the food away, the door from the hall opened suddenly revealing her step father.

John was a reasonably tall guy, but his width was twice his height. He had thinning dark brown hair and looked quite dull from the look in his eyes. Lily looked up at her step father and watched as he lumbered into the room. He slowly made his way up to her; the smell coming from him was making Lily gag.

"Where's breakfast?" He asked her in a deep voice. "Jus' woke up and I don't see any breakfast." Lily sighed and quickly went to the fridge and pulled out some bacon.

"I'll just make you something now." Lily said quite relieved. He didn't know that she had been late _and_ had forgotten to go shopping yesterday.

"Oh no yer don't. Didn't think I had noticed yer were gone huh? Thought yer'd trick me huh?" John grabbed Lily's shoulder and turned her yanked her, turning her to face him. "Answer me!" Lily let out a cry as John tossed her into the kitchen cabinet. Lily looked up tearfully at John and new that this day was going to be a long one.

xXx

James and Remus quickly left the village and began to go up the trail to the mansion in the mountains. James' mother had wanted to go some where quiet this year for the summer, so the Mountains it was. Sirius came with James every where since he lived with him and Remus had nothing to do for 2 weeks so came along for a while as well. They quickly approached the huge brick home and jogged up to the front door. They went inside and were greeted by a huge entrance hall. A huge flight of red carpeted stairs was in the center of the white tiled and walled room and James and Remus both walked across the vast room to one of the doors which the pulled open and found Sirius flopped over the side of a chair. He was groaning loudly and was dangling of the velvet seat, any sudden movement would have made him fall.

"So hungry…" Sirius groaned "I've been stuck in a damn library for half an hour with no food…." Remus pulled out a bag of chips which he quickly chucked at Sirius' head. Sirius opened a bleary eye and quickly spotted the bag on the floor.

"FOOD!" He yelled loudly and pounced down onto the food. He tore open the bag like a wild animal and quickly ate every crumb of the chips. Remus and James quickly backed out of the room.

"He's scary when he's hungry." Remus said as he locked the library door behind him.

"You could say that again…" James shivered as the two friends began climbing the main staircase to James' room.


	4. Ebony Fate

Crying Out

By Goddessgirl16328

A/N: Hey everyone. I must apologize for the shortness of chapters; it was really only a start up thing that made them short, they're going to get much longer as I go along. Any way, thank you for your lovely reviews! Enjoy the chapter!

xXx

Granite Crest Cottage really did stand out on the large mountain, in between the many thick-branched trees. It had been built quite recently, and what a majestic home it was. It was completely made of white marble on the outer parts for show, and had large dark granite steps leading to grand oak front doors. There were several windows scattered across the front of the 4 level home and in one window sat a boy. His black messy hair fell into his hazel brown eyes as he stared out into the clear blue sky.

James Potter hated the house. A lovely place it was, but he knew that as soon as the summer ended, it would be demolished and such beautiful marble and granite and stone had been put into making the beautiful home. Such a waste. Though most would not think that James wouldn't care about such a thing like that, he was filthy rich and popular, able to do what ever he wanted. But James _did _care about that. Not in a huge way, but he thought it wasn't a good idea to cut down so many trees and build such a stately place just to have it demolished in a few months. He knew Lily wouldn't like something like that.

Lily Evans, a beautiful red-head who he had only just noticed how beautiful she really was a few years back in 4th year. In 1st he had asked her out on a dare and when she said no he had been taken aback. From then until the beginning of 4th year, he had spent his time trying to make her say yes. Tricking her, bribing her, black mailing her. But nothing had worked. In October of his 4th year he started thinking it through and decided now he wanted to date her not because some one had told him to, but because he _wanted _to. For some strange reason, Lily seemed like she was unable to tell the difference between him genuinely asking her and trying to convince her to go out with him.

It disappointed him to no end of how cruel she was to him. She gave him the cold shoulder, laughed at his small blunders, was rude to him, yelled at him for things like his existence, and she even sometimes got small revenges on him with some tricky charms that he was sure that only Remus could come close to successfully casting. It hurt when she did these things to him, and he normally retaliated with Sirius by his side by playing countless pranks on her. Remus constantly reminded him that he had been asking for it for being so rude to her for 4 years and not blame her for not immediately taking on to the idea of him being nice to her. James knew he was right, but he wasn't about to admit that.

James sighed as the sun slowly set over the trees and shifted his weight moodily and the window ledge. Lily Evans was the perfect girl. She was wonderful in every way. She read books, studied hard, was very bright, had a kind warm spirit, and had a charming brilliant smile. He would never get her, even get to know her, just because of stupid decisions that he made when he was younger.

"C'mon James! Dinner!" Remus said running past the open door as he went. The light brown haired boy backed up and looked through the door. "James?" His friend did not move from the window ledge and continued to stare at the darkening sky. Remus walked into the extra room, a small empty room that was probably supposed to serve the purpose of a coat room.

"James…" Remus said a bit more quietly. "Your thinking about her again, aren't you."

"I don't get it Moony." James said, his eyes not leaving the tree tops they were fixed upon. "I'm the perfect guy. All the girls love me; I have friggin fan clubs for Christ's sake! But Lily;" James gave a heavy sigh before turning to face his friend. "Lily hates me."

"She doesn't hate you James." Remus said with difficulty as he sat down next to his friend on the wooden ledge. "She's just…confused on how you've been treating her. One minute you hate her, the next your saying that you love her. She's just acting the way she thinks you and everyone else would expect her to act."

"You mean, she's just returning the favor of my tricks and pranks and anger…?"

"No James…she's trying to fit in and right now she's comfortable where she is, and now your changing how you act towards her and she really doesn't know how to act." Remus tried to explain, changing the harsh words Lily had used when explaining it to him.

"And how would you know all this?" James asked suspiciously as he looked up from his hands.

"Oh come off it James, you know that we're friends." Remus said, rolling his eyes. "We talk in the library all the time and meet out on the grounds to read and talk about stuff. We aren't dating though or anything." Remus put his hands up in a peaceful way to show that he meant no harm to James' love life when he looked up at him again in a slight glare.

"I wish she would just open her eyes and see how much I really care about her…" James mumbled as he brought hi knees up to his chest and went back to staring at the dark black sky.

"Maybe, James, you should start by opening _your own_ eyes first." Remus said to his sad friend. "You might think you're the perfect guy, but there are obviously things that Lily doesn't think perfect. Maybe if you tried to change for her instead of waiting for her to change, things would go a bit faster…" Remus stood up and clapped James on the back.

"Though spending time with my best friend is nice, I think it's time we went down to the dining room and had some dinner." James gave a small smile before sliding off the polished ledge, closing and latching the window, and following Remus out of the room.

xXx

James woke up at the usual hour of 2 in the afternoon by Sirius who happily jumped on him in his dog-animagus form. After much yelps and angry shouts, the two boys came downstairs, sliding down the main banister, and slowly stumbling into the kitchens. A few house elves approached the two friends and quickly took their orders for breakfast. By the time James and Sirius had sat down at the table, they had both been served a piping hot breakfast of sausages, toast, eggs, pancakes, waffles, muffins of all flavors, and banana and blueberry bread.

"So, what are we going to do today?" Sirius asked as piled up his plate with everything he could reach.

"I don't know…I don't mind…." James said as he yawned tiredly and took a bite of toast. Suddenly James looked up, something dawning on him. "Where's Moony?"

"Ugh, off to the _bookstore_. Not much fun there…" Sirius mumbled as he took a quick sip of orange juice.

"You know, books aren't _that_ bad Siri." James said pouring maple syrup on his pancakes as Sirius took a huge gulp of orange juice. Hearing this, Sirius spat the juice all over the place and looked at him in shock.

"WHAT?!" Sirius quickly looked at James with a worried expression on his face. "Are you feeling alright mate?"

"Just fine, but seriously, Quidditch Magazines _are_ like books. I mean, they have pictures and words and stuff." James shrugged.

"ARE YOU INSULTING QUIDDITCH?!" Sirius yelled across the table looking mortified.

"No! Of course not!" James gasped, looking terrified himself.

"Phew, I thought I lost you there for a moment." Sirius said in between bites of sausage. There were a few moments of silence as they ate before Sirius looked up again. "James?"

"Yah?"

"Where do they sell magazines?"

"Lotsa places. Mostly book shops though."

"Oh…"

"Mhm."

James and Sirius both looked at each other before bounding upstairs, quickly getting dressed, and dashing out of the house.

"To the Book Shop, AWAY!!!!" Sirius yelled as he raced down the mountain. James right behind him.

xXx

Remus strolled quietly into the town, looking at the small shops and the people that littered the streets as he went along. He looked around and silently entered the book shop. It was a small cramped place and the shelves were all very close to each other. By the looks of things, most of the books were 2nd hand at least, judging by their torn pages and faded covers. Books stood in staggering piles next to full shelves that wouldn't be able to hold another book even if some ones life depended on it. In the far back sat a desk with two smaller piles of books on it. There was also a door that led to the back rooms behind the desk that had a small sign hanging on the front of it that read 'Employees Only' in twisted thin spidery writing.

Remus slowly moved to the side of the room and ran his finger across the spines of a few of the books. None of them really caught his interest, seeing as he had read several of them. Sighing, he selected a blue satin covered book with the title 'The 13th Book' on it and opened it to the first page. The yellowing pages were spotted with age and were difficult to read, but he liked the sound of it never the less.

He slowly crept around the stacks of books to the front desk and rang the small brass bell to call for the person to come to the counter. The door quickly opened revealing a black-haired girl with thin black glasses. She had deep brown eyes and was very thin and slim. She quickly sat down at the desk and gave Remus a shy smile.

"Good Morning, what can I do for you?" she spoke quietly, not meeting his eyes.

"Hi, can I uh have this book please?" Remus asked politely as the girl took the book from him and looked at the cover and flipped to the first few pages.

"The 13th Book; I remember reading this. It's very good, a very good choice. Especially for some one like you, Remus." The girl gave him a small smile as he handed the book back to him. "For such a fine choice, you may take it for no price. It is your first book that you chose from here as well any ways."

"Wait, how did you know my name?" Remus asked as he took the book back. The girl smiled mysteriously.

"If I told you, I know you wouldn't believe me."

"Oh I don't know," Remus said smiling at her last comment. "I've heard some pretty strange things." The girl shook her head and stood up and slowly went back through the door.

"Have a nice day, Mr. Lupin." She closed the door quietly behind her. Remus stared at the door for a few moments before taking the book and leaving the shop. He walked out side and was just about to turn to leave when he heard his name being called. He turned around and saw Lily's friend, Nicole, waving at him from the grocery store door.

"Care to chat for a mo?" She called. "Lily was supposed to come over at 12 but she didn't. She must be busy, and I'm bored out of my mind!" Remus smirked at Nicole as he turned and walked into her shop. When he came back inside the familiar food store, he found Nicole back on her stool.

"Your name _is_ Nicole, right?" Remus asked as he leaned against the counter.

"Yer; yours better be Remus." She laughed good heartedly. "I just shouted it across the street at you and it would be pretty embarrassing to find out your name was, I don't know, Gregory or something."

"No, it is Remus." Remus smiled and shook his head while chuckling. "So, Lily was supposed to meet you?"

"Yer, me and her were going to go across the street to the coffee shop to go get some tea and such but she didn't show." Nicole shrugged. "It won't be the first time that she hasn't shown up. John is always keeping her in at home; she'll probably visit tomorrow since she didn't come today."

"Who's Jo –" Remus started but was interrupted as the bell tinkled above the door again and a loud yelp and a heavy thud followed it. Remus and Nicole turned to find Sirius on the ground, trying to scramble up onto his feet.

"Sirius, what the hell are you do –" Remus started but was interrupted again as James ran in, who quickly tripped over Sirius. They both fell heavily on the ground again and once again tried to stand up.

"It-it was t-terrible…" Sirius shivered, James nodding as he leaned against the wooden door.

"What was terrible?" Remus asked his friends as he pulled them to their feet.

"That b-book shop is haun-haunted…" James said as he looked nervously across the street. Remus looked as well, and saw the black-haired girl staring out the dirty window. She stared back for a few moments before backing up and probably returning to the back rooms.

"Isn't she scary?" Sirius asked as he looked at Remus. "James and I walked into the shop and asked if she had any magazines and she said no, and that she only had books. And then I said 'Books? Who the hell read those?' and I think she got a bit insulted because her eyes went dark and she started yelling at us to get out of her shop."

"I am NEVER going in a book shop again…" James said as Nicole walked up them.

"You guys aren't taking about Ebony Fate are you?" The three friends looked at Nicole questionably. "The girl who runs the book shop across the street?"

"That's her name?" Remus asked. "Ebony Fate?"

"Well, no one's sure exactly what her name is." Nicole explained. "But the book shop is called 'Fate's Book Shop' and she's always carrying around a small book with the name 'Ebony' printed across it which she's always writing in. So people round here just put the two together and called her Ebony Fate."

"Does any one else run that place?" Sirius asked as he continued to stare warily across the street at Fate's Book Shop.

"As far as I know, no. I've been living here all my life too and I've just seen her there." Nicole answered as she sat down at her counter.

"Does she ever leave the shop?" James asked curiously.

"Rarely. When she does, she just comes across the street here and buys a few things." Nicole pulled out her notebook of payment records. "The last time she came was in the spring. She always buys the same things too. Two gallons of water and a few different types of herbs. It's strange…" The three other men nodded in agreement.

"So, what were you boys doing going into old Ebony's store any ways?" Nicole asked them. "You said you don't like to read so going into a book shop doesn't seem like your type of thing."

"Oh, we were looking for Quidditch Maga –" Sirius started, but Remus slapped a hand across his mouth so he couldn't finish that sentence.

"They were looking for Queedinch Manga; it's some Japanese or Chinese thing for their home work, right guys?"

"Yah, yah; that's it!" James said agreeing happily.

"Hm. I didn't know that FBS sold Manga…I'll have to check that out some time." Nicole smiled. Suddenly, a loud tapping noise interrupted them. A small grey pigeon with a piece of white paper in its beak was hovering outside the window. Nicole quickly opened the door and let it zoom inside. Taking the letter from the bird she put it on top of a shelf that had a small dish of water on it.

"What's that?" Sirius asked stupidly, pointing at the bird.

"It's a carrier pigeon named Nevaeh. It's mine; I sent a letter to Lily not to long ago and she's just replying." Nicole's smile quickly turned into a worried frown as she read the short note.

"Uh, thanks for coming guys, but I've got to close down the shop for a few moments so you'll have to go." Nicole said quickly ushering them all out of the store.

"Why?" Sirius asked loudly.

"Is there something wrong?" Remus asked sincerely.

"Is Lily ok?" James asked. All three boys looked at Nicole worriedly who only looked nervously back at them. She flipped the sign on the front of the door that said 'Open' so that it now read 'Closed'. She slammed the door behind her as she hurried back inside.

"What was that about?" Sirius wondered aloud as the three boys began to make there way back up the hill.

xXx

Lily groaned quietly as she rolled over in her bed. Her whole body was sore from last night and all she wanted to do was to lie down and stay where she was. She knew that there were large bruises forming on her arms and legs, and the stinging on her neck couldn't be good since it was accompanied by blood. Suddenly, a soft chirping noise caught her attention coming from her window. Nevaeh was hovering outside with another note from Nicole.

Slowly Lily stood an immediately fell over, her right leg too weak to support her weight. She carefully stood on her left leg and hobbled over to the window, hissing in pain every time she moved. She quickly unlocked the window and opened it up. Nevaeh flew in and dropped the letter on the desk. Lily sat down and quickly unfolded it.

_Lily,_

_Where are you? What happened to tea at Burgman's Coffee, Tea, and Pastries Shop? Did something happen? Are you ok? Did John get angry for the late food? Please write back soon!_

_Your worried friend,_

_Nicolletta Guara_

Lily frowned and slowly took a pen and a piece of clean paper. Nicole only signed her full name when she was worried about something. She began to write her reply at a slow pace.

_Nicole,_

_I'm afraid so. John was absoulutely furious with the late breakfast and I suspect my punishment isn't even close to being finished. I can barely move my arms as I write this, so I apologize for the messy writing. I know he'll be less then kind today so I'll try to get an outdoor job or something around three so you can meet me in my backyard. Don't worry about bringing anything this time. I just want to talk to you._

_Love you always,_

_Lily_

Lily slowly and shakily fumbled with the paper as she folded it up and held it out to Nevaeh. She quickly swooped down and took the note, gracefully flying back out the small window. Lily slowly shut and latched the door and then collapsed on the bed. It was going to be a long day.

xXx


	5. A Single Candle in Fate's Window

Crying Out

By GoddessGirl16328

A/N Hey again everyone! Thank you so much for all your reviews! I really do appreciate them. And the more I get, the more I update! So keep em comin!

xXx

Checking her watch again, Nicole continued to hide in the woods that lined Lily's backyard. It was 3:45 right now, and she had said meet at around 3. Nicole only hoped that Lily was just finishing some other chores before coming outside rather then unable to come out because John was still hurting her…Nicole shivered. She had known about John as soon as Lily had come to her with a huge bruise on her cheek. She was a bit surprised to find out that Lily's friends from school hadn't found out about it yet. She h ad seen Lily several times leave her house for school with scratches and bruises and cuts all over her. Then again, Lily was a pretty good liar.

It was 4 o'clock now, and Nicole was beginning to get worried. She was just about to stand up and sneak into Lily's house to help her friend no matter what when the back door opened. Nicole quickly shrank back into the shadows of the tall trees and watched as John came outside. Nicole was surprised he was able to fit out the back door these days, he was _very _overweight and it looked like had to squeeze through the doorframe.

John looked around before picking up a crate of beer. He quickly brought it to the porch and hid it underneath the wooden planks. Suddenly she heard him bark a command to the backdoor. It opened again and Nicole grimaced at the sight of her friend who was barely able to walk. Lily looked terrible; there were bruises and cuts all over her and she had a purple black eye. She shakily was dragging a heavy crate of beer to John who growled an angry insult at her before shoving that crate under the porch as well. John quickly grabbed Lily's arm and pulled her inside, slamming the door behind him.

Nicole heard the sound of a car door being slammed in the front of the house and the low rumbling of John's pickup truck starting. She saw the truck driving down the street, John and Petunia in the front. Lily was no where to be seen. Nicole's head snapped back when she heard the slam of the back door. Lily was standing their, visibly shaking. Nicole quickly stood, grabbing her backpack as she went, and ran over to her friend. Lily hobbled down the porch steps and fell into her friends arms sobbing.

"Oh my god Lily, are you alright?" Nicole said worriedly. _Stupid question, of course she's not._ "Sit down, Lily, it'll be ok."

"I c-couldn't g-get away from him, Nicole." Lily sobbed into Nicole's shoulder as her friend pulled out some bandages.

"Hey, Lils, calm down, deep breaths." Nicole whispered to her friend as she rubbed her back reassuringly. Lily's tears slowly stopped, leaving Lily hiccupping slightly and shaking.

"Now, Lils," Nicole said, pulling away from her friend. "Are their any cuts you need bandaged?" Lily nodded slightly, pulling up leg of her pants and revealing a deep gash on her ankle. Nicole winced at the sight, but quickly recovered and slowly wrapped her ankle tightly. When the whole gash was covered, Nicole helped her friend to her feet.

"Sorry there isn't much more I can do," Nicole said sadly as she and her walked into the house, Lily heavily leaning against her.

"It's ok; I only wanted you to come to talk anyways." Lily said as Nicole sat her into on of the chairs.

"Do you think John will notice if we have tea?" Nicole asked as she began pulling out the teabags and some teacups and saucers with blue flower print round the edges.

"I highly doubt it," Lily laughed "The day he drinks a cup of tea and acts like a civilized human being will be the day that pigs fly and a goat is our prime minister." Nicole smiled, happy to see her friend still had a sense of humor. She quickly made tea and then handed her a cup.

"So, what do you want to tell me?" Nicole asked as she took a sip of her tea. Lily shifted her weight uncomfortably. Nicole nodded, knowing that Lily always had a hard time starting off these conversations. Pulling out a box of biscuits from her bag, she handed one to Lily and said,

"Why don't we start with what he was mad at you for…?" Lily nodded as she took a bight of cookie.

"He noticed breakfast wasn't ready and there were shopping bags on the floor that hadn't been their yesterday." Lily shuttered "As soon as he said that he through me into the counter a-and I stood up and tried to move away from him but I couldn't…" Lily paused and took a long gulp of tea. She took a deep breath and let it out again. Nicole waited patiently for her to start again, but when she didn't she quietly said,

"Then what happened?"

"Then he….he just grabbed me again… a-and he threw me into our china cabinet." Lily pointed at the empty wooden piece of furniture; it's doors wide open. "Like to see him explain all our missing china when my mum gets back…" Lily finished off another biscuit before continuing.

"I got most of the cuts from the plates and things that were falling on me. I got the big gash a little after that when I was trying to stand up and slipped and fell on a broken glass… When then china broke, he slapped me across the face for m-messing up. T-then he knocked me over again and I slammed my face into the corner of the cupboard. Then he…" But Lily couldn't continue. She was trying to hard to suppress tears to continue. Nicole frowned sadly and quickly made her way to the other side of the table and let her friend cry on her shoulder again.

"I-I couldn't stop h-him…" Lily cried as Nicole made soothing noises and tried to make her friend stop feeling so sad. Lily looked up at the clock and gasped at the time.

"Oh, John and Petunia will be back any minute!" Lily quickly stood up and fell over from putting too much weight on her ankle. Nicole went to her friend's aid, but Lily pushed her away "If you want to help, put all of the cups and the teapot in the dishwasher and I'll put away the cookies." Nicole did as she was told as Lily quickly stuffed the cookies back into her bag. Nicole rushed over and grabbed her bag. Quickly giving her friend one last hug, she dashed out of the backdoor.

"Wait!" Lily cried suddenly. "Nicole! If the guys ask, tell them that I'm on vacation or something!" Nicole nodded before running back into the woods; taking a path she had taken so many times that it angered her. It was the path she had made through the woods from her house to Lily's that she only took when Lily needed help. Or in other words, when John had hurt her.

Nicole wished to tell some one about Lily's problem but she couldn't think of anyone. Lily's mother didn't listen. Petunia didn't care. Nicole didn't even have her own parents to turn to; they had both been killed when they had visited the city in a car accident when she was 14. Even though she had known about Lily being abused before, she hadn't told her parents then. She wish she had.

There was no one else to tell, and plus, Lily had told her not to tell. And this wasn't any old secret; it was a big one and had a good reason to be kept secret. But still, she could get Lily to talk but she couldn't help Lily with her injuries. There was only so much she could do.

Before, when John first started, he didn't hurt her too too badly but as the years went on it slowly got worse. And now, Lily can barely walk. Next she break a bone or worse get killed. Nicole knew she had to do something, tell someone that could help, but she really didn't know what to do. She was as confused as Lily was.

Nicole quickly unlocked the grocery store door and walked in. Carefully closing and locking it behind her, she noticed something quite strange. Over in Fate's Book Shop, a single candle was burning in the front window. Nicole was surprised Old Ebony would let such a thing like an open flame in her store seeing it could be knocked over and burn down all her books. But there it sat, unsupervised, flickering away. Nicole shook her head and began to climb the spiral staircase in the back of the store that lead to her room and the rest of her home. Such a strange day it had been. Sad and strange….

xXx


	6. A Language Unknown

Crying Out

By GoddessGirl16328

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Thanks for ur reviews! Keep em coming!

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Nicolletta stood nervously behind her counter, knowing that Lily's friends would be returning. She just knew it. She had left so mysteriously yesterday that they would surely be curious of what had happened. Speaking of curious, what about that Old Ebony Fate. The purchases had been strange enough, but now the single candle in the window. Sighing Nicolletta shuffled her feet nervously. Suddenly the door banged open revealing Lily's infamous friends.

"What happened?" James cried rushing in. "Where's Lily?"

"He's been hysterical ever since we've left," Sirius explained. "So better bloody well tell him."

"Lily's family has gone to A-america for a couple of weeks." Nicole stuttered out as the three mean stared down at her.

"America." Remus stated in disbelief.

"I don't believe you." James growled. "Where's Lily, what's happened to her?!"

"I told you!" Nicole cried. "She went to America with her mother and sister!"

"By the look on your face yesterday, I highly doubt she was telling you about a trip to America." Remus said in a low voice.

"Look, she told me she was going to America, I don't know anything else!" Nicole said ushering them out of her store. "If your so curious, why don't you bloody ask her yourself?!"

"How can we," Sirius turned to face her. "She's in America, remember?"

"Shit." Nicole whispered before slamming the door closed.

"Well, that went well." Remus muttured.

"I think we were just a bit too straight forward…." Sirius mumbled.

"You guys believe Lily's in America?" James asked with slitted eyes. They both shook their heads. "I didn't think so…"

"And we still don't know who John is." Sirius pointed out.

"Yah…" James sighed. Suddenly he yelped and jumped behind Remus.

"What the hell James?"

"Its that Fate girl!" Sirius turned and saw Ebony Fate staring out of the bookshop window. It wasn't a very conforting sight, especially with their experience with her. Sirius let out a short yelp as well and hi behind both or them.

"Guys, your over reacting." Remus said, shaking them off. "She's just a girl!"

"A scary girl, more like it!" James cried. "I don't know bout you guys but I'm going home. Maybe I'll get ideas on finding Lily myself." With that, James dashed off.

"I'll be following him now…" Sirius said nervously and raced after his friend away from the book shop and Remus. Remus, on the other hand, did not follow, but stepped into the book shop. Ebony was not standing by the window any more. Remus walked to the back and rang the bell one more.

"It's nice to see you again, Mr. Lupin." Remus turned suddenly to see Ebony come out of the shadows. "Where is your book? Are you having trouble finding your destiny…your fate?" Remus looked at her strangely.

"What do you mean my destiny?" Ebony shook her head and walked up to a book on a close by shelf. Pulling it down to Remus, she handed it to him.

"_Viti ët auas vüpa_" Ebony said in a strange tongue, handing him the book. "_Őv ët auas vüpa eph jüqui. Sied cülle._"

"What language was that?" Remus asked in bewilderment.

"_Aua vőni miatipi_; you shall learn in time, Remus." Ebony smiled as she turned to head to the back room.

"Wait!" Ebony turned and looked at him. "Will I not have to pay for this book to, Ebony?" Ebony blinked and shook her head.

"No, no you shall not. Fate has no price." With that, Ebony left the room. Remus shook his head. Ebony Fate. Full of surprises.

xXx

As Lily laid in bed, sore all over and feeling quite depressed, she saw Nevaeh at the window. She flew in the open window and landed next to Lily. A simple note was clutched in her beak.

_They don't believe me. You must speak to them._

_Nicolletta Guara_


	7. Letters

Crying Out

By GoddessGirl16328

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A/N MORE REVIEWS! And enjoy.

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_Little Lily is now 16 years old  
She's still tryna figure why the world is so cold  
Why she's not pretty and nobody seems to like her   
Alcoholic step-dad always wanna strike her  
Yells and abuses leaves her with some bruises_

Friends ask questions she's makin' up excuses  
Bleeding on the inside crying on the out  
It's only one girl who really knows what she's about  
Her name is Nicole and they become friends  
Promise that they'll always be tight till the end 

xXx

_Dear James,_

_How are you? I'm sorry for rushing off so fast a few days back. I had just remembered my trip to America to visit my Mum's friend. I'm right now in New York City and will back in a few weeks. Hope your doing well, and continue to do so._

_From,_

_Lils_

James frowned and reread the note a few times. There were several things wrong with the note. The first thing was that Lily was writing him a letter in the first place when he knew she disliked him to no end. Secondly, she'd called him 'James', something she had never done before. He also knew that she would never sign her name 'Lils', a nickname that she hated more than ever, though James didn't know why.

The thing that got to James the most, though, was the fact that Lily's neat thin writing was sloppy and tilted. She never wrote like that; she hated how people's hand writing was crooked and illegible. She thought it important to write it so every one could read it, and it had taken James a good 5 minutes to read Lily's short letter.

James jumped off his bed and quickly left his bedroom, heading down the hall to Remus and Sirius' rooms. He found his friends in the same room, Remus' room.

'You guys get…?' James said, waving his letter from Lily at them.

'Yah…' Remus said puzzled, reading his letter again. His looked a fair bit longer, but he told James that his was just very apologetic.

'I can't believe that _the_ Lily Evans took her time to write me a letter!' Sirius exclaimed.

'Can I see it?' James asked, snatching the parchment from his friend with out awaiting an answer.

_Dear Toe-rag,_

_I'm in America so bugger off. Don't reply to this either, I'm just sending this to you so stop badgering Nicole for answers. Lemme alone, you prick._

_Signed,_

_Lillian Evans_

'And you're happy that she sent this to you?' James said in wonder, handing back the 'letter' to his smirking friend.

'It's a letter from Lily; you take what you can get.' Sirius told him with a bark of laughter. James rolled his eyes as he turned to Remus.

'So Remus, think these are really from Lily?'

'Yah, I do…but something still doesn't feel right.' Remus muttered.

'These letters have to be the truth, Evans never lies.' Sirius pointed out.

'It's true that she hates dishonesty, but if she has a good enough reason then she'll lie…' James murmured. 'I'm gonna go write her a reply.' James left the room and quickly ran down the hall, flinging open his bedroom door and hurriedly taking out a piece of parchment and a quill & ink.

xXx

Lily continued to wash the plates and teacups in the sink; it was early morning and Petunia and John had just finished their breakfast. Ever since Lily had made the mistake of forgetting to get the food from the market, John had been more and more strict on chores. He gave Lily a huge list every night before he went to sleep about what he wanted for breakfast and at what time he expected it.

If she forgot something, he would hurt her. If she wasn't finished in time, he would hurt her. If she finished too early, he would hurt her. If the food was burnt, he would hurt her. Everything had to be cooked to perfection to insure Lily's safety, but that hadn't happened once yet. Lily had taken care of time problem and had begun waking at 5 every morning to be able to cook everything by 7.

Lily sighed and scrubbed harder on the china as she listen to Petunia and John talk. This was the 1st morning that she hadn't messed up yet. She had had the food finished at 7, as he had told her. She had cooked all the toast, eggs, bacon, sausages, pancakes, and waffles, as he had told her. She hadn't burnt or under cooked a single thing and had even remembered to put two lumps of sugar in each of her relatives' tea before placing the steaming cups on matching saucers in front of the correct seats.

'Oy, Lils!' John cried loudly and suddenly, causing Lily to almost drop the plate she had been drying. 'Get yer dear sister 'nother cuppa tea, Lils!' Lily quickly walked up to the kettle and took it off the stove, carefully bringing it around the counter and to the neatly set table. Lily gently poured the tea into Petunia's cup, which she quickly picked up herself and drank deeply from. Lily jumped back as Petunia spat out the tea in disgust.

'This tea tastes as if it's been sitting on the counter for weeks!' Petunia spluttered, setting her tea down and grabbing a napkin and wiping her mouth off. 'Awful stuff!' John looked up at Lily who had started packing up, holding the metal kettle with both shaking hands.

'I though' I made it clear,' John growled deeply as he stood. 'Tha' we wanted freshly made tea 'ery mornin'…'

'But it was – 'Lily started, but was interrupted by John who had backhanded her as he hissed a loud 'shuddup' in her direction.

'Yer useless! Just bloody lazy filth! Yer so stupid! A bloody stupid idiot! Yer worthless! Yer PATHETIC!' John roared as he punched Lily as hard as he could in between hits. Lily screwed her eyes up as tears of pain and fear flowed freely down her cheeks. _'Please, make it stop.'_ Lily thought desperately as John continued to hurt her. '_Please just let the pain end…'_

xXx

A few hours later, Lily stumbled into her room, hurt and tired. When John had finished beating her, he had forced her to clean up all the mess which included a smashed teacup dropped by Petunia after tasting the cooled tea. Unfortunately for Lily, she had cut her finger on the sharp china and still couldn't stop the flow of blood caused by the small slash. He also made her clear the table, and then made her make him a lunch before he allowed her to go off to her room. Lily collapsed on her bed and then let out a long groan as soon as she heard a familiar tapping noise on her window.

'Nevaeh, just come in already…' Lily grumbled with out looking up. When the tapping continued, Lily lifted her head slightly to glare at the small grey carrier pigeon, though Nevaeh wasn't there. Instead a majestic beautiful sleek black owl was hovering outside her window, its wings beating slowly and rhythmically.

'Mancer?' Lily murmured, the bird quickly soaring into the room after it was sure Lily knew who he was and that he had found the right place. Mancer flew up to her, dropping a scroll next to her and then landing on her desk neatly. Lily unfurled the parchment with trembling aching fingers and read:

_Dear Lily,_

_You aren't in America. I know, a blunt way to start such a letter as this, but really, we all know you're not. Nicole isn't the best liar and your last letter gave me many clues that something wasn't right. Lily, I know we aren't good friends, in fact, we aren't friends at all! But I really care about you and I'm really really worried about you. _

_Please tell us where you really are. And what really happened a few days ago. Who's John? We all want to know and Nicole isn't about to tell us. Lily, please just put our past lives and relations aside and just tell me what's really happening. _

_Worried,_

_James_

'Not a single witty comment?' Lily mumbled to herself. 'If I was daft, I would have though he was being serious!' With a small laugh she crumpled up the well thought-out letter and tossed it into her wire rubbish bin. She doubled over, coughing loudly from laughing, causing a painful ache in her chest. Slowly, Lily staggered over to her desk and began to quickly write a short note.

_James,_

_Don't worry about me. And don't pity me either, especially since I AM in America, completely safe and sound with my mum's friend John. John is my mum's friend from work who moved to America a few years back. Don't bother replying, I shan't write back. I'm too busy to keep writing to you. There's so much to do here…_

_Best wishes,_

_Lils_

Lily grimaced as she signed that name once again. She hated that name, though James called her that all the time so he probably thought she signed letters like that. He wouldn't know. She didn't normally write letters to him. Lily carefully followed the paper in half, then fourths, then handed it to Mancer.

He clicked his beak impatiently as Lily made her way to the beautiful bird. Mancer snatched the letter away from Lily as soon as she held it out, and soared out the open window once again. Lily sat down on her bed with a sigh of relief. Even if she was in pain at least James and the others didn't know the truth.

Little did Lily know though, that unfortunately, the truth always shines through…


	8. Faithful, Not Stubborn

Crying Out

By GoddessGirl16328

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A/N: Heyy everyone, more reviews peoples! I luv 2 c them!

xXx

A lazy summer afternoon such as this one would have normally have been full of reading and adventurous fun, but this one was different. Remus sat in a leather chair in the Library, thinking of a certain some one. Ebony Fate still amazed him to no end. Her mysterious ways, her reaction to him calling her by her name that was given to her by the village, and now this strange language. He had certainly never heard of it before, and he had even looked through several books to see if he could match any sounds to any of the many languages. Though he didn't find anything, that wasn't about to dampen his spirits. Remus stood and walked over to the closest rows of books, running his finger across their spines.

'I've looked everywhere…' Remus murmured to himself. 'Every book…every journal…every place…'

'REMUS!' Remus looked up from his books and watched as James came flying into the room. 'Something's wrong with Lily!' James quickly pulled out a crumpled up note from his pocket.

'It's from Lily, read it.' Remus did as he was told and quickly read the short letter.

'If she's in America, then how did she reply so fast…?'

'That's not all that's strange.' James grimaced as he looked at his friend in worry. 'Look at the back.' Remus flipped over the paper and then took a sharp intake of breath. A red smudged streak lay on the back of Lily's letter.

'Is that…?' Remus asked.

'Blood.' James confirmed. 'It's blood. Something's really wrong.' Remus turned the paper over again and reread the letter.

'Remus?' James asked in an unusually small and fearful voice, causing Remus to look up. 'Do you think…Do you think Lily's in danger? Do you think she's ok?' Remus sighed and looked away.

'I don't know James. I just don't know.'

'Then we must go find out!' James shouted in frustration. 'We must go off and-and help her! She obviously needs it!' Remus looked up at James.

'James, we might know that she's not in America, but we don't know where she is! She could be anywhere!'

'She has to be somewhere close.' James pointed out. 'That letter came too fast. She has to be some where near this village.' Remus leaned against the highly polished bookcase and thought deeply. Suddenly, his head shot up.

'Nicole.'

'What?'

'Nicole, she can tell us where Lily is!' Remus stated as if it was obvious, which it was. 'You see how terrible she does under pressure. We could get it out of her pretty quickly.'

'I'll go get Padfoot.' James said with an air of determination, turning and pushing back the solid oak doors to the Entrance Hall.

xXx

'NICOLE!' James roared as he hammered his fist against the door. The three friends had come dashing to the store, and had seen Nicole close and lock her door before scrambling up the stairs and away from them

'WE KNOW YOU'RE BLOODY UP THERE!' Sirius shouted.

'YOU BETTER TELL US WHERE LILY REALLY IS!' Remus yelled.

'Go away!' came a shout above the Marauders, causing them to look straight up. Nicole stood by the window looking down on them. 'I told you already she's in America!'

'No she's not!' James called back. 'And we have proof! Look, Lily's hurt! She needs help! Just tell us where she is!' Nicole looked around before slamming the shutters closed on the window. Sirius let out a growl of annoyance as the three turned their backs to the door.

'What now?' Remus asked. Suddenly, they heard a click of a lock being opened.

'What do you know?' Nicole asked as she opened the door carefully.

'Lily's not in America, she's hurt, and obviously is protecting a very big secret.' James said to Nicole who had opened the door to allow them to come in.

'Yes, she isn't in America. Yes she's hurt. And yes, she is protecting a very big secret.' Nicole muttered as she sat on her stool behind the counter.

'Where is she?' James asked coldly, though his voice was tinged with obvious worry.

'I can't say.' Nicole said nervously, squirming in her seat.

'Nicole, she's hurt, you have to tell us! We can help her!' Remus told Nicole who shook her head.

'No, you can't help her. John won't let you get close to her…I was lucky to be able to reach her. I highly doubt you will be so lucky.' Nicole murmured.

'Who's John?' Sirius asked firmly crossing his arms.

'Why don't you ask her?' Nicole asked exasperated.

'She told us she was her mum's friend from America. I don't think she's about to tell us who he really is.' James said darkly.

'Look, I'm not answering your questions. Go ask Lily yourself!' With that, Nicole turned on her stool, her back now facing the Marauders. Remus took James arm and slowly pulled him out of the store, knowing full well that Nicole wasn't going to answer any of their questions. Surprisingly, though, Sirius stayed behind.

'Why?' Sirius asked quietly.

'Why what?' Came Nicole's sharp reply.

'Why won't you tell us?'

'I respect my friend's privacy.'

'Your friend is out there, hurt, maybe even dying, making up lies to hide a secret that is obviously very important and you are respecting her privacy?' Sirius yelled in anger. 'You doing that could be the death of her!'

'She's not dying…' Nicole said quietly, afraid to turn around and face Sirius.

'Well, she's in trouble that much is clear.' Sirius shouted. 'Don't you want to help your friend?'

'She told me not to tell anyone!' Nicole cried out, still refusing to look at him.

'Why must you be so stubborn?' Sirius bellowed in frustration.

'I'm not being stubborn!' Nicole cried, twisting around and revealing her tear stained face. 'I'm being faithful!' The room was quiet for a few minutes as Sirius calmed down and Nicole cried.

'And…and I'm afraid.' Nicole whispered. 'Maybe even more afraid then Lily is.'

'Why are you afraid, Nicole?' Sirius asked in a calmer tone as he walked up to Nicole.

'B-because,' Nicole hiccupped. 'Lily's all I have now. She's the thing that keeps me here.'

'You have us,' Sirius told her. 'You have me.'

'I've known you,' Nicole said with a shaky laugh. 'For no more than 5 days and you tell me that you're here form me?' Sirius slowly wrapped his arms around her.

'But I am.' He whispered as she let out a small sob and began to cry into his shoulder. They stood there for a few minutes, supporting each other and reassuring each other. When Nicole's sobs had lessoned to small hiccups, Sirius continued.

'Why would you say that Lily's all you have left?' Nicole looked up at Sirius and then slowly sank to the ground with a sigh, leaning her back against the counter.

'It was a cold night, and it had been raining for hours.' Nicole began looking at the floor rather than Sirius' face. 'The rain had frozen on the ground and made the roads really slippery. My parents and I had gone to London for the day to visit my Grandmother in the hospital. She died later that day, and I was really upset so they decided to drive back home even with the roads in such bad conditions.' Nicole sighed and looked up.

'We were almost home when it happened.' Nicole closed her eyes and remembered. The car had swerved when they had been rounding a sharp corner around one of the mountains. She remembered the sharp pain in her leg as her seatbelt had broken and she had fallen out the window and onto the prickly dry grass outside. She also remembered watching her car zooming through the safety guard, hearing the scream of her mother as it toppled over the side of the high cliff. She also remembered, the look on her parents faces as their eyes met one last time, all three of theirs filled with worry for each other.

'Every night I think about it.' Nicole whispered. 'I think about what would have happened if I hadn't convinced my parents to let us go home. Maybe then, they'd still be alive…' She slowly reach down and began to pull back her pants leg, revealing a long thin scar. 'That's where the glass on the car window cut me. That's the thing that reminds me the most of what happened….'

'That's why Lily's all I have left.' Nicole concluded as she looked up at Sirius who wasn't sure what to say after hearing her story. 'I have no relatives. No other friends…'

'Like I said before, Nicole,' Sirius said as he wrapped his arms around her again. 'You have me now.' Nicole nodded against his shoulder.

'Sirius,' Nicole said after a few moments with a short sniffle.

'Hm?'

'Lily's at her house in the woods…' Sirius shot up and looked down at Nicole.

'Can you help us find her?' Sirius asked her anxiously.

'That's all I can say, Sirius…Like I said before, I'm not being stubborn. I'm being faithful to my friend's wishes…' Nicole mumbled. Sirius nodded in understanding and sat back down again next to the scared sad girl.

xXx

'Why won't she just bloody tell us where Lily is?!' James asked angrily as he kicked at the dirt road that lead up to his house.

'I'm not sure, James.' Remus muttered as they past Fate's Bookshop.

'Damn, it's that Ebony girl again.' James said pointing her out in the back of the store. 'All she does is stare at us as if she's watching our lives…gives me the creeps.'

'When I spoke to her for the first time she knew my name…' Remus told James. 'I don't know where she would have heard it before, I'm not famous or anything.'

'Maybe she reads minds.' James suggested with a shrug, only half listening to what his friend was saying. He was still focused on Lily and her safety and well being.

'And then she can speak this strange language, I can't find anything similar to it.'

'What's one of the words she said?' James asked curiously.

'Uh, one I really remember was _Sied cülle_.' Remus stated thinking hard. 'That's the last thing she said to me. But I also remember the words _vüpa eph jüqui_.'

'Doesn't sound like any language I've ever heard of.' James said thinking. 'Though you might want to try looking that up in an old and forgotten languages book or something. It might be from like some 4,000 year old city that died out and everyone forgot about.' James shrugged as he pushed open the door to his house.

'I'll go try looking that up…' Remus said as he turned and headed into the Library. James stood in the Entrance Hall, unsure what to do. When he was around his friends he could control his emotions better. Now, helplessness was taking over and he was sure that he was going to start crying soon. Such a stupid thing for guy like himself, but James couldn't help but feel like so much was happening and there was nothing that he could do to stop it. Shaking, James climbed the huge velvet-carpet stairs and then slowly walked down the hall in the direction of his bedroom.


	9. Discovered

Crying Out

By GoddessGirl16328

xXx

A/N: hey y'all. I b needin more reviews. So if yer don't mind go telling yer friends 'bout this here story, itd rlly help my reviews go up. Thanks y'all.

xXx

Remus groaned and let his head fall onto the open dusty old book with a soft thud. It was late at night, probably early morning, and he had spent the past few hours searching the large Potter Library for any books that could help him find anything related to the strange language. It had taken him several hours, but Remus had found a book on a language called _Bahitni_ which looked quite promising.

'_Sied cülle_…. How do you spell that…' Remus thought aloud, and wrote the words down phonetically. 'Side Coaly…' Remus lifted his head and pulled the burnt-down candle closer to the faded pages. He ran his finger down a list of 's' words until he found what he was looking for.

_Sied – S-eye-d – to read_

Remus smiled in triumph as he flipped the pages back as he searched for the list of 'c' words in the old dictionary.

_Cülle C-o-l-ee_ _– book _

'Read book?' Remus thought intently for a few minutes before it dawned on him. 'The book! The one she handed to me that day!' Standing up quickly, Remus ran over to another chair where his leather bag sat. He quickly undid the silver latch and flung open the satchel. The book was covered in a royal purple cloth and had silvery letters across the top that read, _Vji Cülle ügh Gevi_

'Wait…you have got to be kidding me.' Remus flipped through the book, and found every single word in the strange language, Bahitni. He groaned loudly before setting it down on top of the other book. 'I'll translate it later, 'm too tired right now…' Slowly, Remus made his way out of the large library and up the grand staircase. Remus was just about to open his door and get into his warm cozy bed, when he heard a noise. It was a soft noise. An almost silent cry… Pushing open James door, Remus saw something that he had never before. James was lying on his bed, face down into his pillow, his shoulders shaking in racking sobs. Remus stood in slight shock, James had always been the strong one, always supporting his friends and keeping a comforting face even in the worse. But now, he seemed so, broken.

'James…' Remus called his friend's name softly. James' body went rigid and the crying stopped. 'James…Its ok…I know how worried you are about her…' James looked up at his friend, his eyes cold and empty of emotion.

'It's ok to cry you know…especially you. She's very important to you and you have the right to be worried.' They sat in silence for a few minutes before Remus spoke again, 'You're going to have to talk some- '

'We're never going to find her, are we…?' James muttered quietly, interrupting his friend.

'James…' Remus sighed as he walked over to his friend's bed and sat on the end. 'Don't give up hope. I'm sure Nicole will come to her senses sooner or later, and then we'll no exactly where she is and we'll go off and find her and help her as best we can.'

'But what if…what if we're already too late…' James' voice cracked with emotion. He bit back the sobs that were fighting to come out, but couldn't stop the slow steady stream of tears that were beginning to roll down his cheeks.

'Don't give up hope James…' Remus told his friend has he pulled him into a brotherly hug. 'We'll find her in the end. I know we will…'

xXx

'LILIAN!' Lily heard her sister shriek her name once again, causing her to turn back into the kitchen and face her sister.

'What do you want now…' Lily asked in annoyance.

'We're running low on food, go get more food from the market.' Petunia ordered.

'Wh-what?' Lily asked, her eyes widening.

'Go. Buy. Food. From. Market. NOW!' Petunia shouted, emphasizing each word.

Lily quickly turned and ran into her bedroom, or at least, moved as quickly as her legs would carry her. Her right leg still wasn't getting better, it only seemed to be getting worse. She hobbled into her room and slammed the door closed. Quickly, Lily slipped into some long jogging pants and a baggy long sleeved shirt. She grabbed a sweater and pulled the hood over her head. IT pained her to move her aching arms and legs so quickly, and she could feel healing cuts opening up again, but she needed to leave the house fast our Petunia would tell John that she was being lazy and then she would be in more pain then she already was in.

She was almost ready to go, but decided to think ahead. She ripped off a piece of paper from one of her notepads and scribbled a short message on it. Lily began to feel dizzy, so she stood still for a few moments before shakily handing the note of to Nevaeh who had been staying in her room for the past day or so.

As soon as the bird left the room, Lily latched the window closed and then began to shakily descend the stairs to the back door, moving much slower than she had just a few minutes before. She slid the door open and stepped outside, thinking about how she would get to the store. Deciding it was still best to ride her rusting bike, Lily climbed onto it was slowly peddled. Her legs began to ache after only a few minutes and her breathe began to grow labored.

'C'mon!' Lily mumbled angrily to herself. 'Almost there…almost there…' Lily dumped her bike on the ground and pushed open the store door. The room was empty. Grabbing a few bags from behind the counter, she began filling the up with all the food she could reach. She slammed the pound notes on the counter and was just about to leave when she heard something, causing her to turn sharply, making her aching body shake in pain.

'Oh my god…' A familiar voice sounded. 'Lily?'

xXx

It was late morning Nicole awoke, Sirius still asleep next to her on her couch upstairs. He had stayed late comforting her, and then she remembered falling asleep. He must have carried her upstairs and laid her down on the couch, settling down next to her. Yawning Nicole turn her head so she was looking at Sirius' face.

'Sirius…' Nicole shook his arm slightly, causing him to open his eyes slowly.

'Hey…' He said as a grin formed on his face.

'Hey.' She smiled back. She looked into his eyes, and he into hers. They were so close and were slowly moving closer. Their noses were touching, she could feel his warm sweet breath against her cheek…BANG! Nicole screamed at the sudden noise and fell off the couch with a small thud. Sirius scrambled up and looked at the window. A small pigeon was trying to fly through the closed window and was having no luck. It backed up and slammed into it again. BANG!

'Nevaeh, no!' Nicole cried, running over to the window and opening it up. The bird flew in, dropping a small piece of paper into her hand.

'What is it?' Sirius asked as Nicole read the note quickly.

_Nicole,_

_Petunia's sending me to get food. Make sure Marauders aren't in the store or village. Speak to you soon,_

_Lily_

'Nicole?' Sirius asked as he watched Nicole's face turn slightly panicked.

'Uh, uh, uh…' Nicole mumbled, trying to think fast.

'Nicole, was that from Lily?' Sirius asked her worriedly.

'Yes, no, probably, maybe!' Nicole cried as she began to push Sirius to the stairs that lead down to the store. 'You have to leave!'

'What?' Sirius exclaimed. 'Wait, why?'

'I'll explain later, just go!' Nicole stopped short when she heard the soft tinkling of the store bell downstairs. 'On second thought, stay as long as you want!'

'Nicole, who's down there?'

'No one!'

'Really…?'

'Yes!'

'Well then, if it's no one then I'll just go down there!'

'Don't!'

'Why?'

'BECAUSE!'

'Look Nicole, I'm going downstairs…' Sirius said in determination.

'NO!' Nicole shouted as she grabbed onto his arm and tried to keep him from climbing down the stairs. But he was to strong for her, and simply dragged her along and walked into the store. He gasped as he saw a figure in a black hoodie and grey jogging pants, carrying several large paper bags filled with food. The hood fell down, revealing a mess of greasy tangled red hair.

'Oh my god…' Sirius murmured, his blue eyes meeting the bright scared green ones of his friend. 'Lily?'


	10. A Life Lost

Crying Out

By GoddessGirl16328

xXx

A/N ok people. Listen up. This chapter will make people want an update. But they won't get an update until I've received 20 reviews. smirks evil, aren't I?

xXx

Time froze as Lily stood stock still, looking like a deer caught in headlights. Her mind raced, unsure what to do. She was caught. That's all she could think. She was caught. They would all know her secret, they would all know how she had been so cowardly and weak….She could only see three choices then and there. She could face her fears and talk to Sirius, she could bike home, Sirius tailing her and finding where she lived, or she could stay where she was and have Sirius find out and get John angry at her for being late.

'God, Lily!' Sirius cried out as he took a step forward, Lily, a step back. 'You don't know how worried we've all been, especially James.'

'J-James?' Lily stuttered as she continued to back up slowly.

'Yes, James! And Lily,' Sirius' eyes widened slightly 'What happened to your face?' Lily hurriedly pulled her hood up, trying to hide her bruises in embarrassment.

'I-I tripped.'

'You tripped?'

'Yes, actually, I did.' Sirius frowned.

'No you didn't.'

'_Yes_, I did!'

'Stop lying, Lily!' Sirius watched as Lily continued to back up even more, her back against the door now. 'I know you are.' Lily carefully and slowly reached behind her and turned the doorknob silently. The door swung open and Lily stumbled out, moving as quickly as she could towards her bike, holding onto her shopping tightly as she went.

'LILY!' she heard Sirius shout as she peddled as quickly as she could. 'LILY! COME BACK!' The shouts grew quieter as she slowly biked deeper into the woods…

xXx

'JAMES!' Sirius came into the house shouting, looking for his friends. 'REMUS!' The two boys quickly came down the stairs looking worried.

'Guys, I-I saw Lily.'

'What?' James shouted, his eyes filling with worry. 'Where did you see her? When? Was she ok?'

'I was down at Nicole's house and I went down the stairs to go into the shop and I found her trying to leave with armfuls of shopping bags. And-and, I'm sorry James, but she didn't look to good. Her face was covered with cuts and bruises…' James' face paled.

'What happened then?'

'She ran for it. Got on her bike and left as quickly as she could. I tried to chase after her, but Nicole was hanging onto my arm so I could move fast enough. Instead, I came here.'

'Do you know where she went?' Remus asked after a few moments of silence after it was obvious James wasn't up to saying much.

'I'm guessing to her house. Nicole told me it was in the woods, and Lily was going into the woods when I was trying to follow her.' They stood silently for a few minutes before James rushed off out of the house down the road. Remus and Sirius looked at each other before following.

xXx

'Did you bring the food?' Petunia asked in her normal snobbish voice as Lily stumbled into the kitchen and limped over to the cabinets and began unloading the bags.

'Don't put tha' food away!' Lily turned and faced John who looking very annoyed and slightly panicked. 'Yer mother's coming home from Australia. We're leavin'.'

'Why?' Petunia asked in confusion, voicing Lily's thoughts. They had never left before when her mother had been coming home….

'She's comin' back cuz she lost 'er job.' John said as he began hurriedly packing his clothes into a bag. 'I need ter go an' find a new girlfriend, and yer two are comin' with me.' He straightened his back and pointed at Petunia.

'Yer comin' so tha' I know yer don' go poor like yer mother.' He turned to Lily and then pointed at her. 'Yer, because one I can't leave yer here for yer mother to find and two cuz I'm gonna…how should I put this…put yer out of yer misery.'

Petunia quickly ran upstairs and began to pack, while Lily just stayed where she was. John slowly walked up to her and looked down at her. Lily's blood had run cold when she had heard his words and his next ones weren't much more comforting.

'If yer know what's good for yer, yer gonna go upstairs an' get packin'.' Lily slowly made her way down the hall, holding onto the wall for support. When she finally reached her room she pulled out her empty school bag and filled it with all her possessions. Letters, books, clothes, and her brush. When she was done, she realized there was just one more thing she needed. Her wand.

When John had found out about her 'abilities' he had been as disgusted as Petunia and immediately thrown all her magical items into a broom cupboard in the hallway. She was sure her wand would help her as a useful weapon to defend herself. All she had to do was some how get it….

'HURRY IT UP, LILS!' Lily quickly took her leather bag and limped downstairs. John and Petunia were outside at the truck, loading bags of food and clothes into the back.

'This is my chance…' Lily whispered to herself. She quickly turned and found the cupboard. She sat down on her knees and hurriedly pulled a bobby pin out from her hair. Placing it in the lock, she jiggled it up in down, hoping to open it. After a few tries, Lily let out a gasp of relief and snatched her wand off the top of her cauldron. Placing it in her bag, Lily slammed the back door closed behind her as she slowly walked up to the truck and handed her bag to John, which he snatched away from her and through carelessly into the back.

'LILY!' a shout rang out, causing all three relatives to look up.

xXx

James, Remus, and Sirius all dashed through the small town, pushing past people as they went. They were almost out of the village when a familiar brunette jumped out in front of them.

'And where do you think you're going?' Nicole growled... 'Don't go searching for excuses, you know as well as I that you're going after Lily.' James looked like he was about to argue with her, but Nicole's face softened. 'And you're going to need some one to show you the way,' Sirius grinned and pulled her into a hug,

'Lead the way.' Sirius whispered to her, causing her to smile and determined smile, and begin jogging up the dirt hill road into the woods.

xXx

'Are we almost there?' James asked anxiously.

'Almost.' Nicole confirmed.

'So, what made you change your mind?' Remus asked as he jogged up t her.

'After seeing her this morning, I knew I had to get her help, even if she didn't want it.' Nicole quickly ran up the rest of the hill and then pointed to a single house. 'We're here.'

'Who's that?' Sirius asked as they all crouched low in the bushes.

'That's John and Petunia, Lily's step dad and sister.' Nicole told them. 'But I don't understand, why are they loading his truck with bags?' A door slammed and a figure with fiery read hair held back in a messy knot came slowly limping out, a large leather satchel hanging on her shoulder.

'Lily…' James whispered before jumping up and dashing down the hill. 'LILY!'

'James!' Lily called in slight relief. John let out and angry roar and pulled out a gun, which he held to Lily's temple. Lily froze as she felt John wrap his arm around her neck. James stopped in his tracks, along with Remus, Nicole, and Sirius.

'What's that?' Sirius asked Remus, seeing he was the only one out of the group of friends who didn't take muggle studies.

'A gun, a muggle weapon used for killing.'

'Now,' John said in a sharp whisper, pressing the gun harder to Lily's head. 'If you know what's best for yer, y'all gonna leave.'

'No!' James shouted angrily.

'James, just do what he says!' Lily cried out. 'Just go!'

'We're not leaving with out you!' Nicole yelled.

'Guys, leave!' Lily's eyes welled with tears as she cried in fear and worry.

'Yah guys, listen to Lils.' John smirked. James walked forward slightly, but stopped moving when he saw John's finger move closer to the trigger. Nicole, Sirius, and Remus all moved closer.

'I'm warning you!' John shouted as he pointed the gun at the friends, tightening his grip on Lily's neck. Lily began to cough and choke from lack of air, making all the friends begin to panic more. She clawed at his arm, but he didn't let go. James couldn't take it any more. He charged forward, and tackled John.

A shot rang out, followed by a scream and a heavy thud.

One Life Had Been Lost…..


	11. Alone

Crying Out

By GoddessGirl16328

xXx

A/N a very short chapter, though there will be another update quickly seeing as this one is so short. I thought this would be the best way to tell everyone who was killed….

Votes Are In:

Everyone voted for only John and Nicole! Except for one who voted for Petunia…

John: 17

Nicole: 10

Most who voted for Nicole hoped it would be John. I don't blame them either!

xXx

_Little Lily is now 16 years old  
She's still tryna figure why the world is so cold  
Why she's not pretty and nobody seems to like her   
Alcoholic step-dad always wanna strike her  
Yells and abuses leaves her with some bruises_

_Friends ask questions she's makin' up excuses  
Bleeding on the inside crying on the out  
It's only one girl who really knows what she's about  
Her name is Nicole and they become friends  
Promise that they'll always be tight till the end_

**Until one day little Nicole gets shot…. **


	12. The Power of Anger

Crying Out

By GoddessGirl16328

xXx

A/N I noticed I didn't get many reviews for the last chapter. I understand that. I hope people give reviews for this chapter though. ENJOY!

xXx

James charged forward as John pointed the gun at him. James ignored the threat, and rammed into him, shoving him into the side of the truck. John yelped as he fell, bringing Lily to the ground with him, and pulled the trigger. Everyone froze at the sound of the gun. Lily screamed as she saw the bullet hit her best friend, straight in the chest. Nicole fell to the ground, breathing loudly and looking more afraid then ever.

'NICOLE!' Sirius yelled as he ran forward to her, falling to his knees and pulling her close to his chest. Remus ran towards John, who was on the ground, still strangling Lily. James was fighting to try and get the gun away from him and release Lily at the same time. Quickly, Remus elbowed John in the face, and grabbed the gun from his hand. Pointing it at John, Remus whispered,

'Let her go.' John stopped struggling against James, who gave him one last strong punch in the face before yanking his arm from around Lily's neck. Lily fell into James' arms, panting loudly though unmoving, her eyes fixed on her bleeding friend. James quickly picked Lily up and pulled her away from John as Remus kept the gun fixed on him. James pulled Lily close to his chest, looking more relieved then ever.

'Sirius…' Nicole whispered as she coughed loudly, the red substance spreading across her lavender shirt.

'Don't worry Nicole-' Sirius began, but Nicole's breathing was slowing down and her eyes closing slowly, then flickering open.

'Nicole!' Sirius cried as he held her tighter, as if this would stop her from ever leaving him. Nicole's ragged breathing suddenly stopped. Lily stood staring at her friend before her legs gave out. James caught her and carefully lowered her so she was sitting on the ground.

'Nicole?' Sirius whispered, pulling the girl away from him. Her face was pale and her blood covered his grey shirt. 'NICOLE?' Suddenly they heard a bang, and everyone turned to see Remus on the ground, holding his arm in pain as Petunia stood on the side of the truck, holding a gun.

'NOBODY MOVE!' She screamed, pointing the gun at everyone. John quickly crawled forward, grabbing Remus' dropped gun. Stumbling to his feet he pointed it at Lily.

'Lils, be a good girl an' come bac' ter the truck.' John said with a toothy grin pointing the gun at her.

'Lily, don't go!' James cried out as he bent down and lifted her into his arms again. 'Don't listen to him Lily. Stay here.' Lily looked between Petunia and John, then up at a worried James, down at the hissing Remus who was shakily standing up and holding his arm tightly. She then turned back and looked behind her at the heartbroken Sirius and her….her…

Cold fury suddenly washed over her. They had killed her best friend. The one girl she trusted. The only one who could help her. The only one. She no longer felt weak or felt that she needed to listen to anyone.

Lily's head shot back to face John, her eyes glowing a bright green and breathing heavily. She was beyond furious. She was beyond outraged. She walked slowly towards John and her sister, yanking her arm away from James as she went. She abruptly stopped, just standing in front of the two people who had caused her the most pain in her life.

'How…DARE YOU!' Lily screamed loudly, louder then any one thought any one could yell. The wind picked up, pushing Petunia and John away from her and her friends. Her hair flying about wildly, Lily made a slashing motion with her right arm, causing the two relatives to stumble over each other as they soared to the right. Lily screamed again in fury, the winds getting stronger.

She moved her palm out to face John and Petunia, and they were instantly bound with heavy ropes. Lily turned quickly and faced her left palm at Remus. Feeling a warm tingling sensation on his arm, he looked down and saw the gun shot wound was completely healed. Lily ran over to Nicole, pushing Sirius out of the way. Faces both palms on her friend, she pushed all her magic towards her friend. Nothing happened. She tried again, letting a small noise of frustration. Still, her friend didn't move.

'Work, you stupid magic WORK!' Lily yelled as she tried again and again, but still nothing happened. Lily looked down at her friend and then burst into tears, her strength gone, her power gone, and her helplessness returned…

_  
Now Lily's stuck up in the world on her own  
Forced to think that Hell is a place called home…_


End file.
